As the 20th century merged into the 21st, the Braves were one of baseball's best teams. Atlanta won every divisional championship between 1991 and 2005.

Because of the players' strike that ended the 1994 season in August - and eventually cancelled the World Series - no divisional leader received official credit for a championship that year.

Despite their success, which led to nine appearances in the NLCS, those Braves won only one of the five World Series in which they played, in 1995.
Stretching into 2018, the Dodgers compiled a similar record of dominance. Los Angeles is playing its third successive NLCS - the longest such streak in franchise history - after beating the Colorado Rockies in an extra game to secure a sixth consecutive National League West title and eighth in 10 seasons.

During the past six years, the Dodgers won no fewer than 91 games.

Much like those dominant Braves teams, pitching also proved pivotal for Los Angeles. Clayton Kershaw owns three Cy Young Awards, one coming in 2014, when he was also the NL MVP. The veteran left-hander compiled the major leagues' best ERA four times, the most victories twice and the most strikeouts once. As a closer, Jansen accumulated no fewer than 36 saves in each of the past five seasons.

Despite that success, the Dodgers appeared in just one World Series, last year against the Houston Astros. Los Angeles had a chance to take a 3-2 lead in games after building a 4-0 advantage in the top of the fourth inning of Game 5 with Kershaw on the mound. But the Astros tied the score in the bottom of the fourth, chased Kershaw in the fifth and earned a 13-12 victory in 10 innings. Houston won the Series in seven games.

"When you put everything, every ounce of your being, into something and you come up short, it hurts," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after the loss.

"I think with each postseason and not winning a World Series, I think you tack on a little bit more pressure, a little bit more urgency to win, especially when you're in the market that we're in," said Kershaw, one of three current Dodgers who played on each of the six divisional champions. "You just try to take it year by year, honestly."

"When you're the team that we are, I think there comes a little bit more pressure, for sure, just because we've had such a great team - and it's been a long time since we've won one."

Not since 1988 have the Dodgers won a World Series. That drought, combined with the conversation surrounding it, adds unique motivation.

"We hear about that a lot," Kershaw said. "I think it stands as a testament to this organization that they have such great history, that they take a lot of pride in their history. But at the same time if we win one, we might not have to hear about it anymore, which would be awesome.

"No disrespect to 1988 but we are sick of it. It's up to us to do something about it, obviously. We need to create some of our own history, for sure."

Yet if the Dodgers fail to reach this year's World Series, let alone win it, is the season a failure?

"In some people's eyes, winning a championship is the only thing that's a sign of success," Roberts said. "So you could argue that every year, there are 29 teams that fail.

"Obviously, with this market and what we've accomplished, our goal is to win a championship. We haven't done that yet. I can be firm in saying that if we don't win a championship, then we didn't accomplish our goal; I do know that."

Outfielder Matt Kemp stated it more bluntly: "We put a lot of pressure on ourselves."

So how do the Dodgers deal with that pressure?

"I think we do a very good job of not getting too far ahead of ourselves but understanding the ultimate goal," Roberts said. "If you're talking about an 'X' factor in a championship series, it's probably not letting your emotions or the moment get too big for you."

Jansen provided a personal example.

"You just focus on one pitch at a time," he said. "That's what I put my focus and energy on. You can't look at who's on deck. You just focus on one pitch and don't let anything bother you out there. You've got to be smart about it, too."

The regular season tested that approach. The Dodgers had a 16-26 record May 16 and needed a 19-9 surge in the final month to win their division.

"Nothing was handed to us," infielder Kiké Hernandez said. "You get to know who you are as a person, as a team, when you're going through hard times. It seemed like most of the season, we were going through hard times. So that resilience, that grit, that grind kept us in the race and allowed us to come back."

Surmounting obstacles "just gives you confidence, even higher and higher," Jansen said, "and (helps you) continue to play good baseball."

That confidence helped Los Angeles rally from a 2-1 deficit in games. With Rich Hill, the team's leader in wins, and Kershaw starting Games 4 and 5 respectively, the Dodgers positioned themselves one victory from a second consecutive World Series appearance.

"We've had our backs against the ball before; it's not the first time," the Dodgers' Chris Taylor said. "We understood we're still in a great position. We had two games at home with Rich and 'Kersh' going, so we were just trying to win one game at a time.

"We've always been confident. Even when we were down, we all knew we were going to bounce back."

That confidence also could become vital in ending six frustrating playoff appearances.

"I think that the one constant is our guys believe that we're going to win this thing," Roberts said. "That has never changed. The noise and the people that don't feel the same way? That's fine. But I think that the most important thing is that our players feel that we're going to get through this series and give ourselves a chance to win a championship this year."

When asked if the Dodgers feel increased urgency to win a World Series to justify their success, Hernandez gave a pithy response.

"I mean, if you don't want to win a World Series, you should go play tennis or something."